These range from some having “neko”
ears and tails to those decked to full “furry” animal avatars. Whereas these
creatures express a great amount of creativity in their appearance and
demeanor, they are quite often shunned in clubs and entertainment venues. What
is so offensive and deprecating in furries that makes sim owners ban them? What
is it that makes furries tick? Stareyes Galaxy donned her cow fursona and went
out to find out more about the furry lifestyle.

Despite having had my
cow avatar for several years, I had not really been privy to the lifestyle of
furries, and often was wondering why on earth one would want to go traipsing
about the meadows of SL as a plump but admittedly very sexy bovine character. I
contacted the “Furry Dating” group, with over 700 members, to get the first
leads. After having been solicited to “yiff” a few times, I was eventually directed
to the USF sim (United Space Force Nation) where I found Kiara and Charlie to
set me right. USF is one of the largest furry communities in Second Life, and
they host an annual AGRA (Anti-Gravity Racing Association) race as well as
other competitions.

Interview
with Furries

SLE:
Where do “furries” come from?

Kiara: Furries were created
by people’s ideas - what it would like to be both human and animal combined.

Charlie: Furries came from people who
originally liked anthropomorphic artwork, which originated in cartoons like
Bugs Bunny, and branched out from there.

Kiara: Actually, this idea
started 1000s of years ago. Take Egyptian gods, for example Anubis.

SLE: What is it like
to be a furry in Second Life?

Charlie: Well. Most of us are
fairly active.

Kiara: SL is where we bring
our passions to life.

SLE: What do you do
in SL?

Charlie: We do like to go out
to clubs and listen to great music, as well as hang out at places like this and
chat with our friends.

Kiara: And even build
wonderful items!

SLE: How do you
"utilize" the furry appearance? Is it any different from being a
human avatar?

Kiara: Furries can do just
about anything a human can do.

SLE: How much do you
exploit the "sci-fi" dimension in your furry exploits?

Charlie and Kiara: Quite a bit.

Kiara: Some exploits are
reaching out to other dimensions in the universe, with powerful technology.

Charlie: We have all kinds of
characters pass through here, some build ships and make weapons, others make
gadgets...

Kiara: …even architecture.

SLE: Are there
role-play sims for this?

Charlie: Yes.

Kiara: At one time we had a
combat zone for that kind of thing, using HUDs etc.

SLE: Is it a rightful
conclusion for me to say that being "furry" you are a bit more
liberated to create stuff in SL that doesn't have to conform to everyday
"human" norms?

Charlie: Liberated... I
prefer motivated.

Kiara: Motivation driven by
inspiration and creativity!

SLE: There are many
clubs and sims that don't allow furries. How do you feel about this?

Charlie: They don't
understand us. Most people fear what they do not understand.

Kiara: I feel that they are
considering furries as taboo, [having] too much of a realist [view]. On the
other hand, I’ve been to human sims where they welcome furries.

SLE: Is this why
furries have become almost like a segregated subculture?

Charlie: They say we are all
sex crazed, which is quite untrue, only about 1/10th of all furries are that
way, and that 10th is what gives the rest a very bad name and why people are so
stereotypical of us.

Kiara: most people are
blind to the truth about furries.

Charlie
and Kiara both said that they spend all their Second Life time in furry form.
Kiara went out of her way to describe her powerful goddess fursona (i. e. “furry persona”) with special
powers and items. “I’m one that takes
furries to a whole new level of uniqueness. That fursona is part of [one of] a
several god races I created,” she exclaims.

A relevant SL search
showed most traffic associated with the adult sim YIFF. Apparently, “yiff” is a
sound of a fox in heat. This term has stuck on the furry community to mean
anything related to sexual activity between furries. Despite the very overt
adult theme, I found the club very entertaining, with avatars engaged in a
voice discussion ranging between very mundane, everyday topics and “furry talk”
about avatar modding. Some voices were very much “in-character”, others sounded
like just normal human chatters.

Justice Rhosar is a
young furry club-goer, and he agreed to be interviewed on furry dating. He says
he has been a “furry” since the age of ten.

SLE:
What made you start the furry lifestyle?

Justice: I opened my door to go outside and
play and I came face to face with a wolf. I told my mother - she said it was
probably just a dog. After that day I felt like a wolf. My main fursona is a
wolf!

SLE:
How do you find "humans" in SL take "furries"?

Justice: Well, I met quite a
few human girls who were quite..."accepting" of furries, but I believe
most should feel nothing negative since this is a game of expression of your
innermost fantasies. I can’t be a [real-life] humanoid animal but here I can.

SLE: So, you have
dated human-form girls as well?

Justice: Yes.

SLE: Are there
differences, between human and furry avatars, when you go out with these?

Justice: Just the human girls
sometimes are confused by the genitalia

SLE: "Furry"
genitalia?

Justice: Yes.

SLE: When you form a
"furry" relationship, what do you consider as the most important
aspects there?

Justice: Hmmm - same as in
human relationships, only furries have more of a battle for dominance so I
enjoy a strong woman who can put up a fight.

He went on to describe
an encounter with a female furry avatar who teleported away having witnessed
Justice’s shark avatar flourish his two penises. “Sharks have two penises,” Justice explains. Another instance was
more rewarding, as he was fighting a furry lesbian and whoever won could then
be on top. For furries, in-species behavior seems to be very important. “If I’m a wolf, I am not going to meow,”
says Justice. I have found that furries tend to gesture openly, but Justice
said that gestures are not necessarily important for him. As to the sex between
furries, inter-species mating can be compared to interracial relationships
between humans. “Well, lucky for us, we
have humanoid bodies,” says Justice. Poses and sex-equipped furniture work
fine for most furries, just the same as for humans. “But they do have beds and other things for feral furs,” continues
Justice, explaining that ferals are avatars that have been construed as realistic
animals. “They have their own little
world -some furs switch between feral and humanoid.” We concluded the
interview with some words of advice from Justice: “Be yourself, learn to emote, and have fun – it’s fantasy. The sex
can be wild, so be open minded!”

From my short experience
as a cow, and meeting these wonderful furry avatars, I got the impression that
due to the unmistakable sexuality of the avatars, there is a similar reaction
in the mainstream as toward Robert Crumb’s “Fritz the Cat” underground cartoons
of the 1960s, or as in any ancient witch hunt. What we need to do in Second Life
instead is to celebrate the creativity and the exuberance of the furry
lifestyle, and welcome furry avatars when we meet them. And, as I experienced,
going furry can be fun as well! “Mooo!”

2
comments:

"Charlie: They say we are all sex crazed, which is quite untrue, only about 1/10th of all furries are that way, and that 10th is what gives the rest a very bad name."

HAHAHA, that's a good one! Humans do indeed feel that furries are 'sex crazed' but a quick search of human clubs and what do we see? "NAKED" this and "SEX" that .. lists miles long of human clubs offering "voice sex", "strippers", "escorts", "womens naked night", "free sex" -- I mean, come on .. the claim humans don't like us because we're sexual? That's the most hilarious line ever, considering how intensely sexual most humans are both in SL and RL. Furries are just more open about it, where is humans go around trying to claim they're better because they *think* they don't parade it around as much as furries do.